Page 116 of Five Mountain Daddies

She raises an eyebrow. “We both have, Samuel. I’m not your enemy. We have to get something that can work for both ofus.”

I sigh. “I know. I’m sorry. I’m justtired.”

“I am too.” She smiles at me a little bit and drops her hands from her face. “Exhausted, actually. You kept me uplate.”

I laugh a little. “You sure you want to say that in front ofRoy?”

“He’s asleep,” she says, waving himaway.

“Fair enough.” I sigh and sip my whiskey. “So we need more money. Where can you get itfrom?”

She shrugs. “I really don’t know. I’ve gone over this whole thing, cross-referenced cost projections and salaries and…” She stops suddenly, mid-sentence.

“And what?” I askher.

“Hold on as second.” She grabs her folder and rifles through her papers. She stops and pulls one out, and then laughs, shaking her head. “Look atthis.”

She turns the paper around to me. As far as I can tell, it’s just a bunch of numbers. Big numbers, but they’re meaningless to me. “What is it?” I askher.

“Those are the salaries of all the top corporateemployees.”

My eyes go wide. “Holy shit.Really?”

“Really. And I’m on here too.” She points at a stupidly bignumber.

“Holy shit, Amelia. I knew you were rich, but… you really get paid that much everyyear?”

“Apparently.” She laughs again, shaking her head. “It’s so obvious, isn’tit?”

I stare at her and a small smile starts to come across my face. I think I know where she’s going with this, and I think I like it alot.

“Are you sure?” Iask.

“I’m rich already. Why the fuck would I need to make this much money? Hell, why would any of these guys need this muchmoney?”

“So you’re just going to cut your ownsalary?”

“Not just mine.” Her grin is wicked. “Every single top-level employee. I’ll take a ninety percent cut. And the rest of them can eat maybe sixtypercent.”

“Think your board’s going to acceptthis?”

“Probably,” she says, laughing. “I mean, I don’t know. It won’t cut their pay, but… it’s unorthodox. We may lose a lot of topmanagers.”

“Amelia,” I say, frowning. “It sounds like you’re shooting yourself in thefoot.”

She laughs again, and I have to admit, her joy is infectious. I find myself grinning even if I think this isn’t the best idea in theworld.

“Trust me,” she says. “It’ll be okay. Maybe I won’t cut their pay that much… I can probably cut mine by ninety-five percent, and only cut theirs by fifty. I don’t know. I’ll have to do the math.” She leans forward, grinning. “But this is where the money’s going to comefrom.”

“You’re taking money from the rich and you’re giving it to thepoor.”

She grins huge. “Exactly. I’m a regular old corporate RobinHood.”

We laugh together loudly, and Roy suddenly wakes up with a jerk. He looks at us, a little bleary. “What’s going on?” heasks.

“We just figured it out,” I say to him, clapping him on the shoulder. “Good job,Roy.”

“Oh, uh, yeah, of course. No problem.” He grins, a little disoriented, and we all laugh together. It’s a joyous and absurd moment, and although it doesn’t last very long, it still feelsgood.

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